All of my rescue dogs are under 20 pounds (9 kilograms) except Bianca who weighs about 70 pounds. I took her several months back when I accepted a puppy who was grieving & crying because she’d not been properly weaned. So I scouted out the mother & got her brother & another puppy too who were all abandoned. The puppies were content, got weaned, & were adopted into loving homes through a shelter here. Gustavo the brother had to go to a shelter because he jumped the fence & prowled the neighborhood. The neighbors were up-in-arms after he chased the ice cream lady. And quite frankly, I didn’t completely trust his good will toward me despite all the treats I lavished on him.
Bianca on the other hand is a sweet, sensitive girl who loves to play & rough-house with the little ones & exhibits no aggression at all toward my birds. While abandoned, she suffered a broken leg which hasn’t healed right but she manages well enough & uses it to swat those who get out of line. She wakes me up every morning with it so I can give her a morning hug & kiss & when she comes back inside from playing lines up for hugs every single time. This morning when they came back in, she didn’t come so I assumed she wasn’t ready & went off to make breakfast for the rest. After about an hour, I realized she was still outside & went to retrieve her. She was outside the door with her head hung down looking all bereft like she was being punished. I had to go outside in my pjs and hug her up before she understood I wasn’t mad at her.
She’s getting treated for heart worms but when she’s healed, hopefully in August, the shelter will try to find her a more suitable home. But every dog you rescue becomes a part of your heart & it’s very hard to say goodbye even when you know they’re going to a better place.
There are a few Assad opponents parsing distinctions between US intervention in Syria & Iraq to justify US intervention in Syria on behalf of the revolution. Every US war is different because the politics of every country are different. But how has it escaped notice by those doing the exegeses that in every single war, bar not one, the US has intervened on behalf of dictatorship against popular movements for democracy & never the other way around? How can the fundamentally reactionary character of US militarism go over their heads with Yemen, Afghanistan, & yes, Iraq right next door? If you support US bombing in Syria, your outrage over Syrian & Russian bombing is not the least bit credible. Or what is Raqqa all about?
For all those who admire Nikki Haley for her rhetorical posturing about Syrian & Russian bombing of civilians in Syria: if she were sincerely concerned about the bombing of civilians, wouldn’t she be jumping up & down like a monkey at the UN over Israeli snipers standing on the border with Gaza & shooting live ammo & tear gas at unarmed, peaceful protesters, including small children? There is nothing to admire about the US role in Syria because it is of a piece with it’s role in supporting Israel against Palestinians. Not to mention with its role in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, & Libya.
You have to be half-baked or reprobate to hold out any hopes for a bantustate solution for Palestine. Palestinians, with extreme generosity of spirit, long ago proposed the only workable solution: a democratic, secular state where Palestinians & Jews can live as brothers & sisters. A Jewish-only state is an affront to the highest principles of humankind. Would we accept a Muslim-only or Christian-only state that persecutes all others? The Jewish holocaust is not a justification for Israel & Zionism is not a liberation theology. Zionism is a rightwing ideology that separated persecuted Jews from the international struggle against racism & colonialism suffered by black & brown peoples & aligned with colonial powers to broker a better deal for Jews. It’s a dead-end strategy which has led to apartheid & genocide & it must be defeated.
There is a video of Israel firing tear gas at Palestinians during Friday prayers at the Great Return March yesterday. Any gathering of Palestinians is considered a provocation by Israel.
Assad propagandist Eva Bartlett has repeatedly attempted to discredit Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders for lying when they report that Syrian & Russian bombers target medical facilities & have demolished hospitals in Syria. She didn’t explain what their motive for lying about Syria would be but since she claims to be a supporter of Palestinians, does she think they are lying now when they report from their field hospitals in Gaza about the severity of gunshot wounds by Israeli snipers?
Photo is Alyarmouk Quarter, a Palestinian Quarter in Damascus being bombed today.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-gaza-s-refugees-have-always-haunted-israel-now-they-re-on-the-march-1.5958265?=&ts=_1524320006239
This is a quite useful article from Haaretz just before the Great Return Marches started on March 30th which elaborates the reasons why the right of return for Palestinian refugees is so imperative & immediate. There are 8 refugee camps with over 1.2 million registered refugees in Gaza within a very small geographical area. Since so many homes in Gaza have been bombed by Israel, there are likely thousands more displaced who are not registered with the UN. There are 19 refugee camps in the West Bank with close to a million refugees & also refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, & Syria. Many living in the 13 Syrian camps had to flee the bombing & it’s not certain where they fled since Jordan closed the borders to Palestinians from Syria. The Syrian regime is now bombing one of the largest of these at Yarmouk, claiming that terrorists are holed up there.
There were four Palestinians killed by Israeli snipers yesterday: 24-year-old Ahmad Rashad Al Athamna, 25-year-old Ahmed Nabiel Abu-Aqel, 19-year-old Abd Al-Aal Abu Taha, & 15-year-old Mohammed Ayoub. Mohammed was killed by a gunshot to the head. It’s safe to assume that Israel deployed its best sharpshooters against unarmed, peaceful protesters at the Great Return March with the express intent to kill young men, though they have also shot women. These deaths are summary executions & are human rights crimes for which Israel should be tried in an international tribunal. They cannot be called war crimes since only one side is armed.
May our four young brothers Rest In Peace. May we not rest in our support for Palestinians in their struggle against colonialism, occupation, apartheid, genocide.
This young boy at the march yesterday is a target whose exhaustion in battle shows in his face.
“They say: “why are you sending children to war?!”
War?
Who said it’s a war?
It’s only you who are trying to manipulate the fact that your terrorist soldiers are facing civilian unarmed peaceful protesters with brutal barbaric inhumane force.”
(Photos & quote from Great Return March on Twitter)
From the Great Return March in Gaza on April 20th: it isn’t reported if this young boy on crutches died from his injuries or not or if he was hit by gunfire. But this image of Israel’s brazen disregard for Palestinian lives should be etched in our minds.
“Whether you are a child, woman, or disabled, you will always be regarded as an existential threat to the Israeli Occupation.”
(Photo & quote from Great Return March on Twitter)
